It’s Saturday evening, July 29, and 25-year-old Alicia Monson is getting ready for her second run of the day in the cold rain.
Life doesn’t slow down on weekends when you’re one of the most promising distance runners in America. In fact, it only gets faster.
She is layered in a long-sleeved black jacket and matching pants, white crew socks, and her size-nine feet are tucked into an unreleased pair of purple On running shoes. Her curly blonde hair is braided and mostly hidden behind a black cap. This is not her usual summer look, but it’s 54 degrees Fahrenheit here in St. Moritz, in southeastern Switzerland, and she prefers to keep her sweat rate up.
This is the second consecutive year that Monson has come to the Engadin Valley. St. Moritz—the world’s oldest ski station and also the official Swiss Olympic High Altitude Training Base—has twice hosted the Winter Games (1928 and 1948). Monson uses the town as a high-altitude base in Europe during the summer, as she competes in Diamond League races around the continent.
Monson arrived a week ago with her On Athletics Club (OAC) after…
